Sight Returns Just Before Death
Eau Claire Leader | February 6, 1907

Miss Mamie Kentbon died at the home of her niece, Mrs. Joseph Hintz, last week in the town of Sherman, with who she had made her home for the last thirty years. Twenty years ago she went bind, but almost two weeks before her death she again recovered her sight and once more beheld the surroundings amid which she lived for the last thirty years. She could easily distinguish the distant hills and the pictures, which were hung in her room. The cause of her returning eyesight is a mystery, which had has been exciting much interest. Doctors are unable to explain it and many people regard it as a special act of providence.

Chad’s Take: I have some good news and bad news.

Generally speaking I feel as though I have explored a lot of Wisconsin. Having researched several books on strange Wisconsin stories, I have been given the opportunity to travel around much of the state. Yet even with my extensive wandering throughout Wisconsin, I am still puzzled by the endless towns and cities that I have simply never heard of. The Township of Sherman was one such place, and to make matters worse, it is located right over in Dunn County, just north of Menomonie, where I spent my college years. However, it is not the close proximity of this case that grabbed my attention, it was Miss Mamie Kentbon’s tragic good news that sparked my interest.

Over the years I have stumbled across dozens of stories similar in detail to this one. In each of the stories, before death settles in, the person recovers some physical or mental function that had been lost for years. Normal people have reported gaining back their eyesight, hearing, use of limbs, and even their ability to speak, just as death was a knocking. Of course the doctors at the time we seemingly baffled by the drastic change, leaving many to attribute it to an act of providence (an act of divine intervention). However, with nearly every case that I have researched, the good news (the return of some missing function), was always followed by the bad news (death), as evidenced by this case. So if any of you suddenly regain some previously lost ability, you can bet that death is not far behind….or maybe not.

Keep an eye out ...